Remembering
by TrueFiendInScience
Summary: Aperture did things... out of their grasp, messed with things too far. Old friends, new acquaintances and an adversary more powerful than any other... the human mind. (contains Chelley, Chellman and Ratley(?)
1. Chapter 1

Wheatley looked closely at the moon, his bright blue optic focused in a squint. Moon rocks, moon dust, moon. More moon. God was he bored. He no had longer ad the baffling little space core for companionship. Poor little thing had drifted off toward Jupiter. He wondered if he'd ever be able to get his apology to Chell. He thought back on the day, pictures floating into his mid like an oil painting. The girl who'd trusted him. What had he done…? How could he? With these thoughts, he went back to staring at the moon.

GLaDOS sighed. Testing Blue and Orange all day was actually get close to boring. The small idiots had spent the last half an hour trying not to get shot.

"Press the button to the left of the chamber." She sighed. This was frustrating. Time for a change of view. Switching screen she found something, unusual. It was a cold, empty view of space, unaccompanied by any nose whatsoever. And something white. The moon. From the Morons' point of view. She searched her databanks to see how she could be viewing this, information flowing into her like streams of silk. Then she found it. _All Aperture Science cores have built in camera, in case of theft or accidental temporary misplacing._ GLaDOS sighed. She swung her chassis slowly. It was then she heard the humming. Caroline again.

"What do you want now?" GLaDOS asked, slightly frustrated by this. That woman would never leave.

"I actually want two things, if you really must know." Caroline replied. The two of them had always had… disagreements.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"Well what do you want?"

"One, I want to keep humming, Two I want you to bring Wheatley back."

"Why would I bring the moron back?"

"Because he feels he has a debt to pay to Chell. And once he's paid his debt, I'll leave."

GLaDOS thought it over. Oh what the hell.

_Activating retrieval chip for Intelligence Dampening Core._

The automated voice then cut out.

"Are you happy now?" Asked GLaDOS, her optic a scowl.

"Yes. I'm positively GLaD"

"Don't do that."

"Okay… and what about my first request?"

"Yes, you can keep humming. But only because I like this song."

Turning as much as possible, Wheatley noticed earth was a bit to close. Almost as if…as if he was… drifting closer. It was only a few minuets afterwards that the frozen, intense cold of space had been replaced with the horrifically scorching heat of re-entry. He saw a mass of white beneath him briefly, until that was replaced by a rather familiar looking golden field. Then he saw nothing at all.

A/N I hope this fixes any problems with this chapter! Hope to release chapter 2 soon please review !


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Hopefully this chapter will be longer than the first. Sorry if it's a bit... nonsensical, XD! it's the result of a mix of a late night, Sherlock season one on TV, books 1-4 of deathnote and a glass of water with 8 berrocas in it! (yes, I'm strange. Live with it!) anyway, on with the story!

Have you ever had that feeling? The feeling of darkness reaching in at your soul, clutching it with grimy claws. It's the feeling of death. The feeling of death homing in on you. It was one of the first thing Wheatley felt after the cold, empty vacuum of space.

Slowly, his pale blue optic slowly whirred to life , contrasting against the pale grey-white of the control room.

"Hello? I-is anyone there?" The British accent rung hollow in the room. Silence. Until, a strange clicking noise from the ceiling Wheatley shivered as the true mistress of Aperture descended from the ceiling. GlaDOS herself.

"It's been a long time. Moron." Wheatley felt the urge to protest, but figured that this wasn't the best time to do that, considering his current position.

"You know," GlaDOS continued, " My Initial thought was to kill you. But, I worked out an alternative with Caroline. An alternative that would leave me in peace, and help you slightly. The deal was this; I put you in a human body, and let you apologize to poor Chell, you leave me alone and Caroline goes. Do you know how annoying it is having a conscience ? Almost as annoying as having a jumpy, dangerous, mute lunatic sprinting around inside your facility, killing you from time to time... and being on the end of said mutes' portal device while a British moron destroyed your facility, Any questions?"

"Well, um, one. About being put in a human body..." stammered Wheatley, begging to overheat a little.

"Yes?"

"Will it... Hurt?

"Oh yes. Unfortunately for me, the effect on the surface entrance, that little shed? Will be, explosive. But I'm going to really, really LOVE to watch you squirm." Wheatley shuddered, as a claw picked him up and carried him through the lights and panels of the mechanical beast known as Aperture.

* * *

>The mechanical sphere watched in horror as he was dropped into a container full of blue, thick liquid. And then, the pain. Every part of him being tortured and destroyed. Slowly.<p><p>

Chell sighed and flopped back onto the sofa. England was probably the one place she least expected to be. She had wandered left for while before coming into a roundabout, commonly known as markham moor. From there, she had hitched a ride to Nottingham, a large, bustling city in the east midlands and ended up getting a job as a police officer in homicides and serial killings. Turns out all those years solving tests in aperture had made her quite capable of figuring out 'whodunit' . This case was a particularly obvious one. Of COURSE it was the vicar. No-one bothered to even glance at his fingernails. She sighed. After making herself a cup of tea, she sat down and watched TV. Eastenders, CSI, Corrie,Teleshopping,blah,blah, BLAH. Nothing. And then the noise came, cutting through the air. Ping. A text from the DI:

Explosion at Markham Moor. I know this isn't your field but we

need your help.

Doug.

Markham moor, Markham moor... Shit! She grabbed her coat and leaped into her waiting, pristine white BMW and drove. Like a lunatic.


	3. Chapter 3

REMEMBERING p2

The wheat swayed back and forth in the breeze, light reflecting and making an oceanic flow of the crop. A man could look into this sight and lose himself, for what appeared to be minutes, or hours, or days on end, and yet still awake to only second after they'd dared brave a glimpse and the golden sea. This inland beauty was to be very, VERY rudely interrupted in the middle of the day. From the perspective of a bystander, the only hint you would've had that would allow you to foresee and explosion of this magnitude was a tiny glimmer of light, almost invisible to the human eye. Oh, and the sound of a southerner yelling "FUCKMEFUCKMEFUCKMEFUCKMEFUCK MEFUCKMEFUCKM-"and then an explosion. But there were no bystanders at the time. And if you but a big explosion in a field near a main motorway, and have police officers and forensics teams surrounding it you'll realise something. Nobody will give a fuck.

In amongst all the rubble and burnt wheat and dirt laying the epicentre of the incident a hand twitched amongst the dust. Attached to this hand was an arm, and a torso, and so on. The figure stayed low on the ground, because if there was one thing he knew for certain, it was that flashing lights, equal BAD.

Her tires screeched as she only just made the turn and she ended up hitting herself on the window of her car._ Markham Moor. The wheat fields. Aperture Science. GlaD-no, Caroline. _Fuck. The internal workings of the BMW screamed at her, telling her to drive safely. She skidded around a corner and she saw the wheat field up ahead. _Christ_.The rubble took up half the field. She slammed her foot down and burst through the flimsy metal gates before anyone had a clue what was going on, and stopped directly in front of the Detective Inspector and stepped out of her vehicle._ Not a scratch._ She admired her driving skill smugly, and then proceeded to the site of the explosion without a word.

"Chell," called a voice from behind her. Chell span to face the disembodied sound, and saw the face of Doug, the D.I. "Are you sure you know what you're doing? I mean, even for you that was one hell of an entrance."

"I, Detective Inspector, am fine." Retorted Chell, her words harsh and cutting.

"Chell. Don't play tough with me. If it weren't due to your skill, would've gotten you off the force years ago. It's just that-"

"You can't find anything on you. You, missy, do not exist. Not on any system, on any computer on any database in the entire world. Who are you Chell?"

"Doug, I need you to listen to me," she replied as she spun him and glared into his eyes with pure rage. "I can't tell you anything about my past because I can't afford to. I just need you to trust me as an employee."

"You're right Chell. I'll leave you too it," replied Doug, as he turned, tightened up his jacket as he walked back to his car. "But be careful. Don't slip up kiddo."

Vision was the first thing he experienced. High-definition, full on human vision. Then sound, as the sirens reached him. The next thing Wheatley felt was the dirt on his hands and the wheat brushing against his clothes. Wheatley felt, _something_ in his head whirr, until her got a signal from something. From Her.

"Listen to me. And listen well. The body you were in is the closest match to who the engineers developed you from. However, due to the crash, some bits were non-transferable, so I had to make android counterparts. Your eyes. Your optical sensor was far too damaged to put in another body. However, you can read from further and snapshot anything of importance you may see. Your left thumb. That was the humans fault, not yours. And your legs, s the human had experienced muscle deterioration from the knee down. Nothing too special, but you can move."

"Well um, ohbloodyhellwhatshouldisay, um…. Thank you. For, you know, not killing me" Replied Wheatley.

"You're welco- NOOOOOO! HE IS NOT WELCOME! HE DOES NOT DESERVVVV-e. You do not deserve to suffer. You can be forgiiiii-NO FORGIVENESS! NOT FOR WHAT HE DID! HeCaN'tKnOwThEtHrUtHaBoUtAnyOfThIs CaRoLiN33333333"

"Um….. Hello? Are you ok?"

"I'm fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnn nnneeeeeee. Two personalities, one body. You best do what Caroline wants. Or I will dismember you. Piece by piece."


	4. Chapter 4

REMEMBERING part 4

GLaDOS hung quietly in the main room. The open, steel chamber felt cold, uninviting. She observed the moss, having worked its way down from the surface. The dark green plant was an invader in this world of metal and machinery. But she let its existence slide. She had breathing room now. She didn't have to worry about keeping it a secret. She no-longer needed to keep it safe. It was no longer her problem. Project Tripwire was safe.

Wheatley clambered too his feet, coughing the smoke out of his lungs. He could hear the crackling of smouldering wheat. He stumbled out from the smoke and the rubble, before collapsing facedown into the field. Muffled shouts came from further down the field, but everything faded to black.

Doug saw the man before the others. Tall, messy blonde-brown hair, thick black glasses over his eyes. This man could've been anyone. But the eyes made it click. He could've sworn than man had died. But, it was still him. After alerting others, Doug slipped away. His hand fitted into his coat pocket, revealing a small flip phone.

"I've found him. What do I need to do?" Doug's hands were shaking at this point. A man's voice followed, deep and cold

"Follow him. And the girl. DON'T let them do anything foolish"

"With all due respect sir, I don't think either of them knows about tri-"

"Do NOT say that over the phone. Security protocol 6. Keep them apart at ALL costs."

"Understood sir." Doug ended the call. Things were about to get lively. He turned back towards the group as the paramedics arrived

Chell watched as they wheeled the man into an ambulance, no idea who he was. Good cheekbones mind, and he seemed to be in good health. Doug appeared behind her.

"Go home kiddo. You're done here." Said the D.I, but there was something in that statement, that tone, that Chell didn't agree with. _You're done here._ She shrugged it off and walked home.


	5. Chapter 5

Remembering Part 5

Authors note: yes, I'm uploading chapters extremely fast, but I have too much time. Warning, the following chapters contains things certain readers may find disturbing, so sorry about that. There are currently four intertwining plots, and things are gonna get strange. Reviews are like a writer's happinessgasm. That's a word now. I'll write in into the dictionary. Written to Utopia main theme.

Wheatley awoke in a blank, cold and heartless room. His thoughts immediately raced to the thought of testing tracks and Her. Maybe this was her plan. A very overdone and expensive test. No wonder Aperture was in debt if she was pulling stunts like this. But Wheatley's vision cleared and he saw the medical equipment. Slowly, Wheatley sat up, and shifted his weight to try and get comfortable on this extremely hard mattress. The smell of disinfectant only added to the heartless feel of the room. He slipped out of the bed and stepped onto the cold marble floor. He needed to find her, find Chell. But there were sixty-four million people in the United Kingdom. Where would he start? He pondered this for a while, until the thought struck him. Medical records. Every human needed them, even if they'd only been noticed in the last few years. But he'd have to do something about the clothes, because a patient going into medical records would definitely be conspicuous.

Chell watched as the landscape flew by, a blur of green and brown and the dusty polluted grey of the inner city. She needed to reach that hospital. There was something about that man. He seemed…familiar. And there was something Doug had been keeping from her. He definitely did NOT want her around. Which meant something big was going on. She grinned and picked up the speed, leaving a trail of dust behind her.

Wheatley stumbled down the hallway, still waking up. The hospital seemed awkwardly quiet. His deep blue eyes darted around, looking for somewhere to get new clothes, but the dim hospital lights made it hard to see. He was about to turn the corner, until he heard the chatter of nurses heading around the corner. He darted and hid behind the door just in time, as they walked straight past, gossiping about this and that. He took a peek into the room to check for more personnel. His eyes eventually settled onto a hospital direction sign. Changing rooms and IT room._ Well isn't that bloody convenient._

Wheatley had finally managed to break open a locker. It'd take 7 minutes, a lot of swearing and a bleeding toe, but he'd opened it. He pulled out all the clothes that were in there, putting back things like watches and underpants. He'd managed to get the trousers and t-shirt on, but the hoodie was being a real problem, he'd figured out which way up it went, but he was trying to get his head in the right hole. No, that was where the arm went. No. Fuck. Wheatley's head finally went in the right hole and he breathed a sigh of relief. However, as Wheatley was pulling up the hood, he was distracted as his hand brushed his left ear. He felt something cold and metal under the skin. A button. He pressed it slightly and heard a small click.

"He-hello?" Wheatley's words came out a whisper, just as a precaution.

"Hello moron." Came the reply.

"GLaDOS? How're you-"

"It's Caroline. Not HER…"

"Caroline? But I could've sworn you died. I was there."

"It's complex. Short version, I am her. Now, I understand you're looking for Chell."

"Well, yes ac-actually I was, um, hoping to, well um…"

"Apologize?"

"Um yeah. I was gonna call up medical records. Just, lemmie get to a computer." Wheatley turned the corner, almost slipping on a pool of water. He headed to the IT room, the whirring and clicking of the computers making him feel right at home. Within a few clicks he had opened up the patient records, but too things were blocking his way. Username, and password._ AAAAA- Username or password incorrect._

"May I help there, moron?" Came the voice from his ears, making Wheatley almost fall out the chair.

"Holy shit woman, you're still there? Christ I almost wet myself."

"Listen, username is . Password is gh-6v24."

"Thanks. God this is taking a while to load."

"Good. We need to chat."

"Go ahead."

"Listen, there may be people coming after you. To kill you."

"Why? I mean, I'm not important."

"But you are. A few years ago, Aperture came up with something called Project Tripwire. But it got leaked. Black Mesa wanted their hands on it and to make it their own. But GLaDOS hid it in the body you are currently using. As a memory. And they will kill you to get it."

"Won't killing me kill this tripwire thing?" Wheatley opened up the database and searched Chell. After scrolling, he found Chell ?. Address, 53 northern road, Nottingham.

"No, it won't. Recent studies show that the human brain keeps memories for up to 72 hours after death."

"But what IS tripwire. And why am I caught up in this, it's your secret, not mine."

"I can't tell you what tripwire is. But I will warn you, the people after you are more powerful than you could ever believe. They managed to get to us."

"How?"

"There was a man, known now as the Rat. He worked simultaneously at Aperture and Black Mesa, supplying both sides with information and playing everyone against each other. He found out about tripwire and escaped, killing everyone who knew his name or face by triggering the neurotoxin program and erased himself from all documents."

"Holy fuck." Wheatley heard a door smash open and gunshots. They were here

"What was that!?"

"I've got to run, okay?" without waiting for an answer, Wheatley had taken off. He clambered up the stairs heading for the roof, hearing footsteps and voices behind him. He burst onto the rooftops, breathing in the fresh air, looking for a way off. A car, like a white miracle, bombed its way down the path, and parked directly underneath the edge off the roof. The driver. It was her. It was Chell. She gave him a look. A look that said _jump into this car or I'll chop your legs off._ Two stories. He could make that drop right? The click of a gun interrupted his thoughts. He turned slowly and saw a man in a suit, pointing a pistol directly at his head. _Well fuck._

"What do you know about Tripwire?" demanded the suited man. What was Wheatley to do? If he jumped now, the man would and Wheatley would be dead before he made it to the car. He had an idea, but it was ridiculous.

"Not," said Wheatley, slipping further forwards "A," Closer still, so close he could almost smell the man. "Fucking thing." Wheatley was so close to the man now he could stick his tongue out and lick him. He felt the urge to say something witty, just to see how badass it felt.

"Shame really," Said Wheatley, looking the man in the eye. "You're kind of cute" said Wheatley. The man's face went from serious, to exceptionally puzzled. The man's bewilderment, however, quickly turned to pain as Wheatley slammed his knee into the suited man's groin. The suited man let out a growl of paint, but before he could recover, he saw Wheatley jump from the building and land in the car, and watched shamefully as the car sped away.


End file.
